Family Guy's 'Blue Harvest' Is A Deep-Cut Star Wars Easter Egg Most Fans Missed
The "Laugh it Up, Fuzzball" series — shorthand for the three-hour-long "Star Wars" parodies "Family Guy" mounted during its 6th, 8th, and 9th seasons — is loaded with references, in-jokes, and jabs for "Star Wars" fans to pick up as they laugh along. One reference hides in plain sight, but it's not one that fans might notice unless they're looking for it. The first volume in the "Family Guy" trilogy is subtitled "Blue Harvest." That happened to be the working title of "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi."
According to the official Lucasfilm website, the hastily assembled cover name was never going to be appended to the finished film. It was conjured up to provide cover when minor plot details for the movie accidentally leaked to the press due to the existence of several large sets in public areas. This resulted in gear being created for the crew sporting that name. The truth came out during San Diego Comic-Con in 1981, where producer Howard Kazanjian explained that the actual title for the film was..."Revenge of the Jedi." It would pivot one more time to "Return of the Jedi" before being released. This definitely isn't the only reference to a hidden detail in "Star Wars" — and "Family Guy" — lore that's snuck its way into titles for other "Family Guy" mini-films.
All of the rest of the titles in the Laugh it Up Fuzzball trilogy make much more direct references to
The rest of the episodes, which comprise the "Laugh it up, Fuzzball" trilogy, are also references to moments couched within the "Star Wars" series of films — and even back to the history of "Family Guy" itself. The second mini-movie — which parodies "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back" — is entitled "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side." That references the episode "Barely Legal" from Season 8. The episode features a cutaway gag to Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, during which Palpatine says he's figured out the ultimate key to writing dialogue for the "Star Wars" series. He says, "Something, something, something, dark side. Something, something, something, complete," to a postulant Darth Vader.
The final film in the trilogy — "It's a Trap!" — mocks "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi." This title is the easiest to place since it's something Admiral Akbar says during the film. Ironically, this episode went through several pre-production title shifts in itself. Per The Hollywood Reporter, one working title was "Episode VI: The Great Muppet Caper" — a reference to the many Ewoks which show up in the original film. During an ad on the DVD version of "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side," the film is called "We Have a Bad Feeling About This." Multiple characters say this throughout the film series, to the point of it becoming a prominent meme on the internet.
They may seem like odd partners, but "Family Guy" and "Star Wars" are now connected in the public consciousness thanks to these movies, for better or for worse.